Heavens

Orion's hidden fiery ribbon

This dramatic new image of cosmic clouds in the constellation of Orion reveals what seems to be a fiery ribbon in the sky. This orange glow represents faint light coming from grains of cold interstellar dust, at wavelengths too long for human eyes to see. It was observed by the ESO-operated Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) in Chile.

New program successful in reducing service and substance use among frequent health care users

TORONTO, May 14, 2013—A program co-led by St. Michael's Hospital could be the next widely used model to treat patients who are frequent users of the health care system and have severe addictions, often complicated by homelessness and mental health problems.

3 X-class flares in 24 hours

The sun emitted a third significant solar flare in under 24 hours, peaking at 9:11 p.m. EDT on May 13, 2013. This flare is classified as an X3.2 flare. This is the strongest X-class flare of 2013 so far, surpassing in strength the two X-class flares that occurred earlier in the 24-hour period.

New software spots, isolates cyber-attacks to protect networked control systems

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a software algorithm that detects and isolates cyber-attacks on networked control systems – which are used to coordinate transportation, power and other infrastructure across the United States.

Networked control systems are essentially pathways that connect and coordinate activities between computers and physical devices. For example, the systems that connect temperature sensors, heating systems and user controls in modern buildings are networked control systems.

New method of finding planets scores its first discovery

Detecting alien worlds presents a significant challenge since they are small, faint, and close to their stars. The two most prolific techniques for finding exoplanets are radial velocity (looking for wobbling stars) and transits (looking for dimming stars). A team at Tel Aviv University and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) has just discovered an exoplanet using a new method that relies on Einstein's special theory of relativity.

NASA sees the remnants of Tropical Cyclone Jamala fading

Tropical Cyclone Jamala ran into some harsh atmospheric conditions on May 11 in the Southern Indian Ocean and vertical wind shear tore the storm apart. NASA's Aqua satellite captured an image of the remnants while the more powerful, more organized Tropical Cyclone Mahasen continued to strengthen to the north.

NASA sees controlled fires in Southern Australia

Today's image of southern Australia showing New South Wales and Victoria shows a series of controlled fires.

Fires are often deliberately set by fire officials and controlled in order to clean out dry underbrush and accumulations of debris. The fire burns away the detritus which could otherwise be the ignition for a devastating bushfire that may easily get out of control.

In this image, it appears all of the fires have been planned and are under control.

Physicists light 'magnetic fire' to reveal energy's path

New York University physicists have uncovered how energy is released and dispersed in magnetic materials in a process akin to the spread of forest fires, a finding that has the potential to deepen our understanding of self-sustained chemical reactions.

The study, which appears in the journal Physical Review Letters, also included researchers from the University of Barcelona, City College of New York, and the University of Florida. It may be downloaded here: http://bit.ly/18FKwFO.

NASA sees a strengthening Tropical Cyclone Mahasen

The first tropical cyclone in the Northern Indian Ocean this season has been getting better organized as seen in NASA satellite imagery. Tropical Cyclone Mahasen is projected to track north through the Bay of Bengal and make landfall later this week.

First X-class solar flare of 2013

On May 12, 2013, the sun emitted a significant solar flare, peaking at 10 p.m. EDT. This flare is classified as an X1.7, making it the first X-class flare of 2013. The flare was also associated with another solar phenomenon, called a coronal mass ejection (CME) that can send solar material out into space. This CME was not Earth-directed.

Mutation causing wrong-way plumbing explains 1 type of blue-baby syndrome

An example of a mouse with TAPVC as seen by microCT. The movie starts off looking from the left side. As the specimen spins you can see the pulmonary veins (PV) connecting to the coronary sinus (CS) from the back. LSVC = left superior vena cava, RSVC = right superior vena cava, LA = left atrium, RA = right atrium, LV = left ventricle.

(Photo Credit: Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania; The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia: Nature Medicine)

Water on moon, Earth have a common source

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] —Water inside the Moon's mantle came from primitive meteorites, new research finds, the same source thought to have supplied most of the water on Earth. The findings raise new questions about the process that formed the Moon.

NASA sees 2 tropical cyclones competing in the Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is alive with tropical activity today, May 10, as there's a tropical storm in both the northern and southern oceans. Tropical Cyclone Jamala (formerly 24S) and newborn Tropical Cyclone 01B were both captured on one image from NASA's Terra satellite today.

The Elephant's Tomb in Carmona may have been a temple to the God Mithras

The so-called Elephant's Tomb in the Roman necropolis of Carmona (Seville, Spain) was not always used for burials. The original structure of the building and a window through which the sun shines directly in the equinoxes suggest that it was a temple of Mithraism, an unofficial religion in the Roman Empire. The position of Taurus and Scorpio during the equinoxes gives force to the theory.

In the constellation Taurus, Hubble finds dead stars 'polluted with planet debris'

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has found the building blocks for Earth-sized planets in an unlikely place-- the atmospheres of a pair of burned-out stars called white dwarfs.

These dead stars are located 150 light-years from Earth in a relatively young star cluster, Hyades, in the constellation Taurus. The star cluster is only 625 million years old. The white dwarfs are being polluted by asteroid-like debris falling onto them.